#porsha olayiwola

[lunalovegood2]

I think about my name, how it is the first gift I gift to a stranger, the first thing that was mine I ever gave willingly to the world.

Porsha Olayiwola

[chaotic-space-reads]

Today we read "i shimmer sometimes, too (Button Poetry)" by Porsha Olayiwola

I love how book written. The author style is (personally) a bit hard to read, but it's bringing emotions to text (I think). I don’t read poems often and usually it's just separate poems and not a poetry book. But I like the experience. Whole book is heavy on racism, homophobia issues, heavy on subjects of slavery and police brutality, but I didn't find it depressing and would recommend to read it (even if it not something you personally see every day)

Mostly I feel somewhat of melancholy after reading it, but it's the kind of melancholy I find pleasant. I sometimes call it sunny melancholy.

Some poems touch the strings of our soul. In particular it was Memory/Loss.

In this case it's really similar to my onw thoughs and emotions on remembering people. It's hard to forget, so I find it easier to expect people to go away. It's not a healthy thing to do, but it's something I do.

[ss-e-r-e-n-d-i-p-i-t-yy]

“Maybe when I

say I have a bad

memory what I

mean is just that.

I’m filled on

bad memories.”

- Porsha Olayiwola

[this-is-not-a-slow-burn]

The intro will make sense in context.

[roxburysunflowerproject]

Poets! Writers! Rappers! Submit your original poetry to the Roxbury Sunflower Project Poetry contest! haikus, raps, sonnets - all styles welcome. Reference any Roxbury Sunflower Project Theme: Seeds, Deep Roots, Following the Light, Radiance, Resilience, Beauty and Community. 3 age categories. Great prizes and great judges. Porsha Olayiwola, Poet Laureate, City of Boston, Lisa Lee, Poet, Artist, and Joel Mackall, Teacher, Author and Photographer.

Submissions close July 31 at midnight.

[lifeinpoetry]

maybe when i say i have a bad memory what i mean is           just that.                            i’m filled on bad memories. [brain replays the departure] i, more hollow i, more abandoned:                                           memory works in association.                                           you will always associate two together. maybe my brain can’t unwind love from     [            ] can’t dissociate the building of a home from the breaking of an entryway. don’t know what it is to get lost in someone and not lose yourself. falling [in love] and falling. perhaps by not remembering i am protecting myself. perhaps forgetting is self-preservation.

when i meet someone, i ask them to tell me their name. i say it aloud hoping it’ll stay, hoping they’ll stay. i can’t recall if anyone ever did.

— Porsha Olayiwola, from “Memory / Loss,” i shimmer sometimes, too

[imaginemirage]

"Some mornings I wake and I am most like my mother, a wide mouth daring light to flicker before I shine. Other mornings I am like my father, a shadow cast black as American soil and as frequently uprooted."

Porsha Olayiwola

[buttonpoetry]

I wake and I am a burning mahogany. And what I mean is there are days I am engulfed. Other mornings I wake and I am most like the horizon.

Porsha Olayiwola, from i shimmer sometimes, too

[bostonpoetryslam]

silence ain't never saved no one. who? show me a quiet stance and i'll show you a grave.

Porsha Olayiwola, “Brunch With Twelve Black Phantoms,” from I Shimmer Sometimes, Too

[silocityreadingseries]

Silo City Reading Series, 2021

[sharedinsanitea]

“Those who have the least

are often offered up at a

crossroad. Those in need

are often slain in the dead

of mourning. Those in power

smile, name this a just fate."

- Porsha Olayiwola

[deepdrearn]

[intangible-dream]

I'm pissed the fuck off, I'm mad. Because above everything, at any given time and in any given space, I, as a black woman, can suffer from racism, sexism, homphobia, classism. I can raped, beat, be burned alive and no one, not a single soul, would look up to acknowledge my absence from this universe, because I am insignificant, because I am a black woman. And finally you see I have every right to be, pissed the fuck off. But most of the times despite what you believe, I'm really, really sweet.

Porsha Olayiwola - “Angry Black Woman”

[bee-stylinson]

T H I S !! IS !! IMPORTANT !!

Watch: Poet Porsha Olayiwola heartbreakingly reminds us all that black women’s lives matter too. 

[lifeinpoetry]

i wish you unlocked doors // meals prepared side by side // i wish you concerts under stars // with someone you love // wish you trips overseas with someone you never want to stop talking to // i wish you trust // after my betrayal // i wish you love after loss // i wish you love // after love // after love

— Porsha Olayiwola, from “Ode to My Ex-Girlfriend,” i shimmer sometimes, too

[kmrportfolio]

Promotional flyer created for campus guest speaker event.

Created: October 2017

© Kitty Modell-Rosen